This is a family friendly blog for those who love dolls and toys. The blog is a forum for all apsects of doll history, doll collecting, and doll making. It is the first step in creating a nonprofit doll center to educate the public about the historical role that dolls, the oldest human cultural artifact, play in the the lives of people all over the world. All excerpts are the author's intellectual property and may not be reproduced in any means withoutreceiving permission from the author.

My husband led me to a fantastic Victorian doll house yesterday. After we chatted with a great couple who built it, we came home with VanV...

Sand Baby Castaways

Courtesy, Glenda Rolle the Artist

PM Dolls

Leo Moss

German Dolls

Formerly, Aunt Len's.

Beecher Doll

Graces cover of Lenon Hoyte Auction, Aunt Len's

Foreign Dolls

Pryor Collection

Pryor Doll Collection

In Dec. 1959 Natl. Geographic

Great Book

Edward VI's Doll, 1540

Formerly, Helen Moe Doll Museum

Rare "frozen metal doll" Mannikin Pis

Courtesy, eBay Eilleen, Finder 27

Vintage Japanese Doll Joins our Museum Family

Courtesy, Southern Soldier Antiques

Rare Frozen Charlotte Type

A Pageant of Dolls

By Lesley Gordon, 1948

Hong Kong Lili

Barbie Stamp

An early Vintage Barbie

Bild Lili

Zinc Bodied Rohmer

Caused a suit between Mme. Rohmer and Mlle. Huret

Metal Dydee Baby

17th century Lead Dolls

England

Doll Shaped Mold

cf Dolls and Puppets by von Boehn

Metal Head

Probably Minerva

Black Metal Head

Russian Nesting Doll Charm

18 inch Metal Head

Mlle Bleuette

14th C Munich Clay Doll

Used as Bapitsmal Gifts

Halopeau artists rendering

Toy maker

Restored dolls

L to R: All vinyl mid-60s, Ragggedy Ann, handmade, new arms and clothes, Barbie Type as Elizabeth Short, The Black Dahlia. Black Felt Dress, white silk flowers and ribbons. She is in one piece, but with a swivel waist that does snap in two!

About Me

Sunday, January 12, 2014

The Soul of a True Collector

When you've been in the collecting game as long as I have, it becomes easy to spot a true collector. Not a dealer, piling several of the same item in a cart to sell later, speculating in the latest secondary market trend. Not a causal shopper, buying on impulse, perhaps to decorate a space. It's the person quietly selecting objects at a rock show, or an antique show, or a flea market. They don't stand out by spouting how much they know about something. They aren't haggling loudly. They may be quiet, unobtrusive, but with a determined look on their faces. Certainly, they aren't wacky or eccentric, the way many collectors are portrayed in today's media. Denise van Patten covered that topic often in her blog for about. No, this is a cat of a different stripe, as a colleague of mine was fond of saying. I saw one today. It was at Eagle Days, and the usual purveyors of fossils, rocks, jewelry, and handicrafts were doing their thing in our local expo center. There was a young girl, between 25-30, carrying a plastic basket. She was at one of the vendor's stands selling crystals, fossils, rocks, and jewelry. I watched her, slim, dressed in black, light coat, brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. She wore two pewter medallions on a black cord, and very little make up. But, her face was rapt as she carefully hefted this or that crystal till she found the right one. She was lost in her quest as sure as any knight after the Grail. She had some small rocks, some items for making jewelry, a few little fossils in her basket. She was not clumsy or pushy, but she took notice of little else but the rocks and fossils on the table. You had to admire that concentration, that ability to get quietly lost in the moment, enjoying something so much. quiet passion, to be sure. I've often felt it myself. I spent all day Saturday installing a display of metal dolls for our local museum to promote my book. I forgot everything else. That often happens when I work with the museum collection, or when I'm planning our brick and mortar location. I don't think of any problems, and forget all the stressors in my life. I think it's possible that collecting can add years to a person's life. Those who die young just don't spend enough time collecting.